December 29
Events *1812 - USS Constitution (Captain William Bainbridge) captures HMS Java off Brazil after a three hour battle. *1813 - British soldiers burn Buffalo during the War of 1812. *1835 - The Treaty of New Echota is signed, ceding all the lands of the Cherokee east of the Mississippi River to the United States. *1845 - Texas is admitted as the 28th U.S. state. *1851 - The first American YMCA opens in Boston. *1860 - The first British seagoing iron-clad warship, the [[Wikipedia:HMS Warrior (1860)|HMS Warrior]] is launched. *1876 - The Ashtabula River Railroad bridge disaster occurs, leaving 64 injured and 92 dead at Ashtabula. *1890 - United States soldiers massacre more than 400 men, women and children of the Great Sioux Nation at Wounded Knee. *1911 - Sun Yat-sen becomes the first President of the Republic of China. *1911 - Mongolia gains independence from the Qing dynasty. *1930 - Sir Muhammad Iqbal's presidential address in Allahabad introduces the Two-Nation Theory and outlines a vision for the creation of Pakistan. *1934 - The first college basketball game at New York City's Madison Square Garden is played between the University of Notre Dame and New York University. * 1934 - Japan renounces the Washington Naval Treaty of 1922 and the London Naval Treaty of 1930. *1937 - The Irish Free State is replaced by a new state called Ireland with the adoption of a new constitution. *1939 - First flight of the Consolidated B-24 *1940 - World War II: In The Second Great Fire of London, the Luftwaffe firebombs City of London, killing almost 200 civilians. *1949 - KC2XAK of Bridgeport becomes the first Ultra high frequency (UHF) television station to operate a daily schedule. *1972 - An Eastern Air Lines Lockheed "Tristar" crashes on approach to Miami International Airport, Florida, killing 101. *1989 - Riots break-out after Hong Kong decides to forcibly repatriate Vietnamese refugees. * 1989 - On the final day of trading for the year and decade, the Japanese Nikkei 225 Average closes at an all-time high of 38,915.87. *1992 - Fernando Collor de Mello, president of Brazil, tried to resign amidst corruption charges, but ended up being impeached. *1996 - Guatemala and leaders of Guatemalan National Revolutionary Union sign a peace accord ending a 36-year civil war. *1997 - Hong Kong begins to kill all the nation's chickens (1.25 million) to stop the spread of a potentially deadly influenza strain. *1998 - Leaders of the Khmer Rouge apologize for the 1970s genocide in Cambodia that claimed over 1 million. *2001 - A massive fire in the historic district of downtown Lima, Peru kills at least 274 people. Births *1709 - Empress Elizabeth of Russia (d. 1762) *1721 - Madame de Pompadour, mistress of King Louis XV of France (d. 1764) *1796 - Johann Christian Poggendorff, German physicist (d. 1877) *1800 - Charles Goodyear, American inventor (d. 1860) *1808 - Andrew Johnson, 17th President of the United States (d. 1875) *1809 - William Ewart Gladstone, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (d. 1898) *1816 - Carl Ludwig, German physician (d. 1895) *1843 - Elisabeth of Wied a.k.a. Carmen Sylva, queen of Romania and writer (d. 1916) *1856 - Thomas Joannes Stieltjes, Dutch mathematician (d. 1894) *1859 - Venustiano Carranza, 54th President of Mexico (d. 1920) *1876 - Pablo Casals, Catalan musician (d. 1973) *1881 - Jess Willard, American boxer (d. 1968) *1896 - David Alfaro Siqueiros, Mexican painter (d. 1974) *1899 - Nie Rongzhen, Chinese Communist military leader (d. 1992) *1902 - Nels Stewart, National Hockey League player (d. 1957) *1908 - Helmut Gollwitzer, German theologian (d. 1993) *1910 - Ronald Coase, British economist, Nobel Prize laureate *1914 - Billy Tipton, American musician (d. 1989) * 1914 - Albert Tucker, Australian artist (d. 1999) *1915 - Bill Osmanski, American football player (d. 1996) *1917 - Tom Bradley, American politician (d. 1998) * 1917 - Ramanand Sagar, Indian film director (d. 2005) *1920 - Viveca Lindfors, Swedish-American actress (d. 1995) *1922 - William Gaddis, American writer (d. 1998) *1927 - Andy Stanfield, American athlete (d. 1985) *1928 - Bernard Cribbins, British actor *1931 - Prince Gu of Korea, Korean royalty (d. 2005) *1932 - Inga Swenson, American actress *1934 - Ed Flanders, American actor (d. 1995) *1936 - Mary Tyler Moore, American actress * 1936 - Ray Nitschke, American football player (d. 1998) *1937 - Barbara Steele, British actress * 1937 - Wayne Huizenga, American football team owner *1938 - Jon Voight, American actor *1941 - Ray Thomas, British musician (The Moody Blues) *1942 - Rick Danko, Canadian musician (The Band) (d. 1999) * 1942 - Rajesh Khanna, Indian actor *1946 - Marianne Faithfull, British singer *1947 - Ted Danson, American actor * 1947 - Cozy Powell, English rock drummer (d. 1998) * 1947 - Vincent Winter, British actor (d. 1998) *1949 - Syed Kirmani, Indian cricket player *1951 - Yvonne Elliman, American disco singer *1952 - Gelsey Kirkland, American dancer *1953 - Stanley Tookie Williams, American author (d. 2005) * 1953 - Gali Atari, Israeli singer and actress *1954 - Roger Voudouris, American singer * 1954 - Prince Takamado of Japan (d. 2002) *1956 - Fred MacAulay, Scottish comedian *1957 - Brad Grey, American film producer * 1957 - Paul Rudnick, American screenwriter/playwright *1958 - Nancy J. Currie, American astronaut *1959 - Patricia Clarkson, American actress * 1959 - Paula Poundstone, American comedian *1960 - Thomas Lubanga, founder and leader of Union of Congolese Patriots *1960 - David Boon, Australian Cricketer *1961 - Kevin Granata, American associate professor at Virginia Tech, victim of the Virginia Tech massacre (d. 2007) * 1961 - Jim Reid, Scottish singer (The Jesus and Mary Chain, Freeheat) *1962 - Devon White, Jamaican baseball player * 1962 - Blake Mitchell, American adult actress *1963 - Francisco Bustamante, Filipino billiard player * 1963 - Dave McKean, British artist and filmmaker * 1963 - Sean Payton, American football coach *1965 - Dexter Holland, American musician (The Offspring) *1966 - Stefano Eranio, Italian footballer *1967 - Andy Wachowski, American director * 1967 - Ashleigh Banfield, Canadian journalist * 1967 - Chris Barnes, American singer *1969 - Jennifer Ehle, American actress * 1969 - Allan McNish, Scottish race car driver *1970 - Aled Jones, Welsh singer * 1970 - Kevin Weisman, American actor * 1970 - Glen Phillips, American musician (Toad The Wet Sprocket) * 1970 - Hidetoshi Mitsusada, Japanese racing driver *1972 - Evan Seinfeld, American musician (Biohazard) and actor * 1972 - Jason Kreis, American soccer player * 1972 - Jude Law, British actor *1973 - Theo Epstein, American baseball general manager *1974 - Richie Sexson, American baseball player * 1974 - Mekhi Phifer, American actor *1975 - Jaret Wright, American baseball player *1976 - Danny R. McBride, American actor, writer, and producer * 1976 - Katherine Moennig, American actress *1977 - Jimmy Journell, American baseball player *1978 - Alexis Amore, Peruvian pornographic actress * 1978 - Kieron Dyer, English footballer * 1978 - LaToya London, American singer *1979 - Diego Luna, Mexican actor *1981 - Shizuka Arakawa, Japanese figure skater *1989 - Nathan Forbes, British footballer *1994 - Princess Kako of Akishino of Japan Deaths * 721 - Empress Gemmei of Japan (b. 661) *1170 - Thomas Becket, Archbishop of Canterbury (assassinated) (b. 1118) *1563 - Sebastian Castellio, French theologian (b. 1515) *1634 - John Albert Vasa, Polish bishop (b. 1612) *1661 - Antoine Gérard de Saint-Amant, French poet (b. 1594) *1689 - Thomas Sydenham, English physician (b. 1624) *1731 - Brook Taylor, English mathematician (b. 1685) *1737 - Joseph Saurin, French mathematician (b. 1659) *1785 - Johan Herman Wessel, Norwegian poet (b. 1742) *1825 - Jacques-Louis David, French painter (b. 1748) *1891 - Leopold Kronecker, mathematician (b. 1823) *1894 - Christina Rossetti, English poet (b. 1830) *1897 - William James Linton, American wood engraver and political reformer. (b. 1812) *1916 - Grigori Rasputin, Russian monk (b. 1869) *1924 - Carl Spitteler, Swiss writer, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1845) *1926 - Rainer Maria Rilke, Austrian writer (b. 1875) *1929 - Wilhelm Maybach, German automobile designer (b. 1846) *1937 - Don Marquis, American author (b. 1878) *1960 - Eden Phillpotts, British writer (b. 1862) * 1960 - Philippe Panneton, Quebec physician, diplomat and writer (b. 1895) *1967 - Paul Whiteman, American musician and conductor (b. 1890) *1976 - Ivo Van Damme, Belgian athlete (b. 1954) *1980 - Tim Hardin, American musician (b. 1941) * 1980 - Nadezhda Mandelstam, Russian writer (b. 1899) *1981 - Miroslav Krleža, Croatian writer (b. 1893) *1986 - Harold Macmillan, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (b. 1894) *1988 - Mike Beuttler, British racing driver (b. 1940) *1993 - Frunzik Mkrtchyan, Soviet Armenian actor (b. 1930) *1996 - Mireille Hartuch, French singer and actress (b. 1906) *1998 - Jean-Claude Forest, writer and illustrator of comics (Barbarella) (b. 1930) *1999 - Leon Radzinowicz, British criminologist (b. 1906) *2003 - Earl Hindman, American actor (lung cancer) (b. 1942) * 2003 - Dinsdale Landen, English actor (cancer) (b. 1932) * 2003 - Bob Monkhouse, English comedian and game show host (b. 1928) *2004 - Julius Axelrod, American biochemist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (b. 1912) * 2004 - Liddy Holloway, New Zealand actress (b. 1947) * 2004 - Ken Burkhart, American baseball player (b. 1915) *2005 - Gerda Boyesen, Norwegian-born body psychotherapist (b. 1922) Holidays and observances *The fourth day of Christmas in Western Christianity. *R.C. Saints - Thomas Becket (optional memorial) External links * BBC: On This Day * * On This Day in Canada ---- Category:December